In ground fault circuit interrupting (GFCI) apparatus, it is a common practice to provide structures suitable to panel board arrangements whereby the ordinary circuit breaker arrangement is directly replaced by GFCI apparatus. However, there are some applications, such as fused panel boards, wherein such direct replacement is impractical if not impossible.
Further, it is known that GFCI apparatus utilizes a differential transformer arrangement and a response to fault currents as low as 4 or 5 milliamperes is readily attainable. Moreover, it is highly desirable to provide such protection in the areas most susceptible to ground faults such as bathrooms, kitchens, swimming pools and garages for example. Thus, it is advantageous to provide a receptacle having GFCI capabilities and suitable for containment within an ordinary and nearby wall outlet box.
Additionally, it is well known that the common wall outlet box available in most present-day structures was designed to contain a simple dual receptacle rather than a dual receptacle which includes GFCI apparatus. Thus, it becomes important to utilize a maximum amount of the space available within the ordinary outlet box by enhancing and miniaturizing the design of the GFCI apparatus.
The above-mentioned miniaturization features are accomplished in the present invention by providing dual receptacles as well as a ground fault circuit interrupting (GFCI) apparatus having both test and re-set capabilities and all containable within an ordinary wall outlet box. Moreover, the uniquely designed apparatus includes such desirable features as identical reversible conductors for effecting reception of the prongs of a male plug in the dual receptacles, spring-like flexible resilient connectors responsive to a ground fault condition to effect disconnection of a power source, a floating re-set guide assembly which is efficient and inexpensive, and a simple and inexpensive modular-like construction which features insulated separation of mechanical and electrical structural features as well as plug-in type electrical connections.